“…David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife…” Matthew 1:6 (NIV)
During these few weeks that God had been helping me sort out the lie I’d been believing from His truth, one of my Scripture readings for the day was Matthew 1. I talked on Christmas Eve about how God showed me the love of adoption through Matthew 1, but He also showed me something else.
As I was going through the list of who was related to who, I noticed that God thought it important enough not only to mention Solomon, but both of his parents – David (his father) who was married to Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba). God is very exact in who He mentions in the chronology of birth orders. Now, He didn’t mention Bathsheba by name, but instead referred to her as Uriah’s wife. And it was because of that mention that my ears perked up and I traveled down memory lane in a specific way.
I started thinking about how David sinned against God twice involving Bathsheba. First, he committed adultery with her while she was still Uriah’s husband and then second, he killed Uriah and took Bathsheba as his wife. As a consequence, the baby that was conceived in sin died within days of his birth.
However, the story doesn’t end there. This, I think, is the lesson God wanted me to discover. Yes, David and Bathsheba had to deal with the consequence of their sin. This was a good reminder that even if I’m not the instigator in sin, if I don’t choose to run away from it, I’m still held responsible and will suffer the same consequences.
However, after David confessed his sin to God and truly repented, God blessed their marriage. He restored them by allowing Solomon to be born. Not only was Solomon born to Bathsheba and David, but he was mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Himself, but he was the one who was granted permission to build the temple for God.
God doesn’t sit up on His throne waiting for us to sin so He can “throw the book at us.” No! He wants us to choose obedience, but He created us and knows we aren’t perfect and need Jesus in our lives to save us. He also wants us to confess when we mess up and let Him fix those messes for us.
When I realize how much God loves me, truly loves me, it changes my outlook on life. I want to obey out of love for Him. I want to make Him happy. But when I do sin, and I do, I should be able to come to Him faster, confess my sin and ask for His help. Sometimes I still run and hide because I’m ashamed or afraid (old habits die hard) but those times aren’t as often. More often I’m coming to Him, saying “I need help, Father,” and then doing my part of getting back in line with how the Bible wants me to respond to things while I watch and see the miracles God will do in my life and in those around me.
I love that God doesn’t just teach me something once and then expect me to grasp it all. Instead, He loves me enough to keep repeating the same lesson until He knows it’s reached my heart, not just sitting in my head.
© Cheri Swalwell 2015